This invention relates to an apparatus for feeding material around an object and, more particularly, to apparatus for shaping flat flexible tubing material to one of a plurality of shapes and placing the shaped material around any desired area of the object.
Banding machines which automatically place a bond of material around an object such as a bottle have been in commercial use for many years. These machines function to receive a continuous supply of flat, flexible tubing which is shaped by the machine and then placed around the object to become, for example, a label on a bottle or a seal which fits over the neck and cap of the bottle. A continuous strip of flat tubing is fed into the machine where it is cut into a specified length and shaped to conform it to the part of the bottle over which it will extend. The bottle with the cut tubing over it is then transported to a heat shrink tunnel which heat shrinks the tubing in a tight configuration around the bottle. The sequence of cutting and shaping varies depending on the particular machine being used.
In one type of banding machine, the flat tubing is opened around a circular mandrel which shapes the tubing. The tubing is cut to a desired length while on the mandrel and then pushed over a neck of a bottle by the remaining uncut tubing on the mandrel. In another type of banding machine, the continuous tubing is compressed at its sharp side creases to form additional less severe creases at about 90.degree. from the original side creases. The shaped tubing is cut to a desired length and then allowed to fly in free flight into a circular funnel where it descends partially by gravity and is held in the funnel by the contact of the four creases with the funnel walls. The tubing is then pushed out the lower end of the funnel onto the neck of a bottle.
A significant disadvantage with both types of machines is that they are limited to applying banding to one basic shape bottle, i.e., a circular bottle. In one instance, as noted above, only circular mandrels are employed to shape the tubing into a generally circular configuration. In the other instance, because of the use of a circular funnel, the tubing is formed generally into a circular configuration so that it can be held in the funnel at the four creases until pushed over the bottle. These two types of machines, therefore, cannot shape the flat tubing into other shapes such as an oval or square shape for placement over similar shaped bottles.
An equally significant disadvantage with these prior machines is that they cannot adequately move the cut tubing over any one specific area of the bottle, such as only over the center or lower end of the bottle. The reason for this is that both types of machines require the cut tubing to be pushed from one end over the bottle. When the flexible cut tubing moves off the mandrel or funnel and partially over the bottle, continued pushing towards the bottle center would cause deformation of the tubing, such as unwanted creasing, in the area of such one end.
Furthermore, all banding machines are required to cut a specified length of tubing, which length is dependent on the area of the bottle desired to be covered. Consequently, it is necessary that the machines have a mechanism to register the tubing in relation to the cutting knife. At least one of the mandrel type banding machines uses fingers which engage perforations located in predetermined areas of the tubing to move the material a preset distance with the fingers engaged in the perforations. An obvious disadvantage of this registration technique is that the manufacturer of the tubing is required to add perforations to the tubing in order to use the banding machine. On the other hand, the machine having the funnel includes a registration technique in which a pneumatic cylinder forces a pusher down onto the surface of the flat tubing and then pushes the tubing a preset distance; the pusher is then withdrawn from the surface and retracted to its initial position where it again contacts the surface of the tubing and pushes it the preset distance. A disadvantage of this technique is that the tubing can be damaged by forcing the pusher onto the surface.
The present invention has the advantage of being able precisely to locate tubing around any desired area of an object without deforming the tubing once it has been shaped. The present invention also has the advantage of being able to conform the flat tubing to any desired shape so that it can be placed around a corresponding shaped object. Another important advantage of the present invention is that it can register the tubing in relation to a cutting knife to cut a desired length of tubing without requiring the tubing manufacturer to place additional markings or perforations on the tubing than otherwise would be placed thereon; also, the inventive registration technique does not require handling the tubing in a way that might cause damage to it.